I have passed into reading about Solomon again (again, because this section of the old testament goes over the same stories at least twice in King and Chronicles with a wisdom reminiscing in Psalms and Proverbs). So, I am now reading (again) about kings and battles in the Divided Kingdom… and with these names (again) it is TOUGH going… But I know WHERE we are going… These are all Jesus telling His-story history. 

I’m grateful for these timeline pamphlets, which show the parallel stories between Kings and Chronicles. Most importantly for me I have visualized clues to understand that all the kings in the north essentially were bad and drove those kingdoms into the ground, got defeated and sent the whole population into exile. Grumble, crumble, collapse. I also absorbed a very important nugget of knowledge about the southern situation, that after Solomon, his son Rehoboam was the 1st of some BAD kings that caused the divided territory.  Remember the finery of the temple just a few veres ago? Randsacked. Stolen. Solomon’s son Rehoboam HAD to move to the south for his safety. He moved to a region named for Judah, one of the 12 branches from Jacob.

So over half the kings in the south were “bad”. ALL the kings in the north were considered “bad”. It was because they didn’t listen to God… BAD!!!… and eventually everything crumbled in the north… exile by being run out of town, deportation, despair… not good… we should not be surprised that the old days weren’t so golden… our memories may want us to think life was more simple but clearly not.

Crumbled and yet from this collapse came Hope and rebirth for God’s sake, for our sake, God allowed and instilled into the scene some future Hope, spoken in prophecy, for Jesus’s earthly beginnings came from the areas in Judah. Hope of hope, a Light of the world foretold by prophets for the future. Hope held by David and known by Solomon. Hundreds of years, hope was passed on like a treasure much more valuable than Solomon’s riches. Hope was instilled even in Jesus’s disciples who asked if He came to restore the earthly kingdom of Israel then. Well,  Jesus was on a mission to restore God’s Kingdom forever – Heaven and earth… Rebirth…

We all have a privilege and duty to listen to God. We have a Savior but we must be willing to be saved. We must understand both God has Power and Sovereignty, and thus fear the Lord’s rule. Fear enough to understand the love in it, the best interests for us is the best interest of Gid. We must see the beauty in the sunrises and in the sunsets, even if the days are evil. We must know we were made for days like these, times like these.

I think about times now when clearly the wishy-washy nature of the world gets us collectively in trouble. The divided kingdoms of the past become less of a surprise. The extent of brokenness of people is sadly nothing new. Like the Hope of Jesus rising from the crumbled ashes in Judah, we must recognize the rising of the Spirit within us. The grumbles of life intended to crumble our dependency upon earthly riches and rules. 

We must be broken down to realize that our spirit rises best from shedding our selfish human skin, an exile to our human pride, a grumble then crumble of our groaning, to be reborn in the Spirit, humbly reborn in Jesus. 

Each day be reborn into the day.

We live in this world, but are not of this world. And we best walk not with kings of earth but by the side of the King who carries us. We do continue even if we don’t conform. Live in the day, let tomorrow worry about itself. 

Restore your Hope. You are rescued. Jesus is King.

Amen 

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Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. 2nd Chronicles 13:18